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Serradori edges Alonso to Dakar stage eight win, Sainz holds lead

Mathieu Serradori edged Fernando Alonso to top the eighth stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally, amid a low-key showing for the marathon's leading contenders

Serradori claimed a first-ever stage win for himself and his South African-built Century CR6 buggy in the 294.53-mile loop around Wadi ad-Dawasir.

Though he was only one of several drivers with similar frontrunning pace in the early parts of the stage, Serradori was in a league of his own in the second half and finished four minutes faster than Alonso's Toyota.

The two-time Formula 1 champion nevertheless recorded his best Dakar stage finish yet, having previously been classified no higher than fourth.

The stage win has allowed Serradori to overhaul another Toyota driver Bernhard ten Brinke for seventh place in the general classification, with Serradori having surrendered the spot on Sunday after getting stuck on a dune.

Opening the road after his victory in the seventh stage - and with no bike tracks to follow given their stage was cancelled in the aftermath of the passing of veteran rider Paulo Goncalves - rally leader Carlos Sainz (pictures above) endured a difficult start to competition on Monday.

Over the first 93 miles, Sainz lost 15 minutes relative to the fastest runners, and eight relative to his nearest rival - Toyota's reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah.

But having been passed by both Al-Attiyah and the fellow X-raid Mini buggy of Stephane Peterhansel in the stage, and with the threat of losing his overall lead looming large, Sainz recovered and caught up to his two main adversaries, and the trio finished in close proximity.

And though he wound up 19 minutes slower than Serradori on the day, Sainz gave up just over three minutes to Al-Attiyah and six to Peterhansel, meaning he retains a 6m40s lead over the former in the general classification.

Mini driver Orlando Terranova and the Toyota pair of Giniel de Villiers and Yazeed Al-Rajhi completed the top five on the day behind Serradori and Alonso.

The trio remain in pursuit of Sainz, Al-Attiyah and Peterhansel in the overall race, but Al-Rajhi, who sits best of the rest in fourth, remains over half an hour adrift of the marathon leader.

Mini driver Yasir Seaidan - ninth in the overall standings - was in the mix for the stage win for much of the day, but lost 40 minutes after getting stuck in the sand with just over 30 miles left to run.

Leading stage eight times

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Mathieu Serradori SRT Racing Century/? 3h48m23.s
2 Fernando Alonso Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 4m04.s
3 Orlando Terranova X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 6m19.s
4 Giniel de Villiers Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 6m29.s
5 Yazeed Al-Rajhi Overdrive Toyota Toyota 7m16.s
6 Jakub Przygonski Orlen X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 9m29.s
7 Bernhard Ten Brinke Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 10m19.s
8 Erik van Loon Overdrive Toyota Toyota 12m41.s
9 Stephane Peterhansel Bahrain JCW X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 13m11.s
10 Nani Roma Borgward Rally Team Borgward 14m33.s
11 Nasser Al-Attiyah Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 15m55.s
12 Peter van Merksteijn Overdrive Toyota Toyota 16m38.s
13 Wei Han Geely Auto Shell Lubricant Team Hanwei/Geely 17m05.s
14 Pierre Lachaume PH-Sport Peugeot 18m00.s
15 Carlos Sainz Bahrain JCW X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 19m15.s
16 Jerome Pelichet Raidlynx Optimus/MD 20m09.s
17 Benediktas Vanagas General Financing Team Pitlane Toyota 20m52.s
18 Jean Remy Bergounhe SRT Racing Buggy/? 22m00.s
19 Vaidotas Zala Agrorodeo Mini/BMW 26m49.s
20 Antanas Juknevicius Kreda Toyota 27m46.s
21 Alexander Dorosinskiy X-Raid Mini John Cooper Works Rally Team Mini/BMW 28m18.s
22 Martin Prokop MP Sports Ford 31m12.s
23 Ronan Chabot Overdrive Toyota Toyota 34m51.s
24 Jianyun Jin Keepower Motorsport MD MD/? 34m58.s
25 Miroslav Zapletal Offroad Kazakhstan Ford 40m50.s
26 Yasir Saeidan Race World Team Mini/BMW 42m50.s
27 Pascal Thomasse Keepower Motorsport MD MD 43m11.s
28 Tomas Ourednicek Ultimate Dakar Ford 52m13.s
29 Andrey Cherednikov Offroad Kazakhstan Ford 53m26.s
30 Jean-Pierre Strugo MD Rallye Sport MD 54m13.s
31 Hennie De Klerk Treasuryone Nissan 58m20.s
32 Dominique Housieaux MD Rallye Sport MD 59m50.s
33 Manuel Plaza Perez Sodicars Racing Sodicars/? 1h05m05.s
34 Thomas Bell Sabertooth Motoring Adventure/Red-Lined Nissan 1h05m37.s
35 Tim Coronel Maxxis Dakar Team Jefferies/? 1h11m45.s
36 Quan Ruan Qian'An Jiu Jiang Landsail Racing Club Chevrolet 1h14m32.s
37 Oscar Fuertes Ssangyong Ssangyong 1h15m18.s
38 Christian Lavieille Toyota Auto Body Toyota 1h15m36.s
39 Maik Willems Bastion Hotels Dakar Team Toyota 1h16m05.s
40 Cristina Gutierrez Herrero Mitsubishi/ Sodicars Racing Mitsubishi 1h17m37.s
41 Gintas Petrus Petrus Racing Toyota 1h18m43.s
42 Philippe Boutron Sodicars Racing Sodicars/? 1h27m24.s
43 Akira Miura Toyota Auto Body Toyota 1h37m55.s
44 Roman Starikovich Autolife Toyota 1h42m13.s
45 Jerome Renaud Team SSP Rover 1h53m44.s
46 Sebastian Guayasamin Sodicars Racing Chevrolet 1h56m34.s
47 Jesus Calleja Overdrive Toyota Toyota 1h57m53.s
48 Marco Carrara R Team Mitsubishi 2h00m39.s
49 Xavier Foj Foj Motorsport Toyota 2h07m04.s
50 Juan Carlos Vallejo Team Proraid Peru Volkswagen 2h09m48.s
51 Markus Walcher Enduro XXX Bowler/? 2h11m15.s
52 Teun Stam Schijf Rally Toyota 2h21m28.s
53 Mohamad Altwijri Altuwaijri Racing Team Toyota 2h23m42.s
54 Alexandre Pesci RD Limited Rebellion/? 2h27m54.s
55 Gerard Tramoni Team 100% Sud Ouest Land Rover 2h30m49.s
56 Denis Krotov MSK Rally Team Mini/BMW 2h41m29.s
57 Francois Cousin Compagnie Des Dunes Nissan 2h44m16.s
58 Marco Piana Xtremeplus Polaris Factory Team Toyota 2h46m44.s
59 Yuqiao Zhao Qian'An Jiu Jiang Landsail Racing Club Chevrolet 3h06m29.s
60 Thierry Richard Sodicars Racing Nissan 3h17m08.s
61 Philippe Raud Sodicars Racing Toyota 3h28m28.s
62 Pablo Canto Martinez Fusiona Toyota 3h35m09.s
63 Joan Font FN Speed Team Toyota 5h00m50.s
64 Fernanda Kanno De 0 Al Dakar Toyota 5h19m29.s
65 Andrea Schiumarini R Team Mitsubishi 5h55m57.s
66 Boris Vaculik 3RCZ.COM Ford 51h15m42.s

Leading positions

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Carlos Sainz Bahrain JCW X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 31h56m52.s
2 Nasser Al-Attiyah Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 6m40.s
3 Stephane Peterhansel Bahrain JCW X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 13m09.s
4 Yazeed Al-Rajhi Overdrive Toyota Toyota 32m25.s
5 Orlando Terranova X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 43m02.s
6 Giniel de Villiers Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 53m12.s
7 Mathieu Serradori SRT Racing Century/? 1h02m42.s
8 Bernhard Ten Brinke Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1h07m00.s
9 Yasir Saeidan Race World Team Mini/BMW 2h37m18.s
10 Wei Han Geely Auto Shell Lubricant Team Hanwei/Geely 3h06m20.s

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